Wichita eagle., 1887-09-13

DANGEROUS PLACES m PARIS.
The Cellars Where Thieves and Murder
ers Resort.

The Cellars Where Thieves and Murder
Resort.
So We made up q party of three, and
between l and in the morning we az
rived at the Central markets. We left
them TO their dreams, and descended by
a narrow staircase into series of vaults,
the whitewashed ceilings of which were
covered with arabesques and names writ
ten in black with the smoke of q candle.
In one part of these vaults group of men
were drinking and singing parOdies Of
church hymns. This did not come up to
our expectations, so we went to La Jeune
France n famous cellar, where a man
had been assassinated only q few nights
before. We passed through q gate, down
one flight Of narrow stairs, then STOPPING
low, we passed under a narrow archWay
reserved in the foundations Of the house,
then down another flight of stairs, then
through another archway, along a tortu
ous passage, and so to a tunnel about
seven feet high, five feet broad, and twenty
feet long. The vault of the roof was COW
cred with green trelliSwork; there were
benches and rush stools to sit upon;
wooden tables bearing the marks of strife;
and, to light US, two gas jets. We were
here at the very end of the mouse trap,
and we now understood why the police
never enter these ''caveaux' there is no
possibility of a fair fight.
When we entered the "caveau' there
was nobody there, but after we had
ordered some wine two musicians came
in. The one was miserably pale fellow,
half starved and half blind, with thin
blonde mustache. He sang and accom-
panied himself by striking n few chords
on guitar. The other was n short, bony
man, with a black beard, drunken blue
eyes, round shoulders and an appearance
of humility, rs if he were constantly afraid
of receiving kicks. He sang in turn,
strumming ON single bass chord? The
tip given by some watcher soon brought
four other YisitOrS-a burly ruffian, who
wore a huge red fez rising eighteen inches
above his crown; a young man wearing
thin cotton blouse and two others dressed
in cast off clothes Of fashionable cut, but
without Vestige of linen. The humble
musician sang, above all things, an air
from "MignOn," =" keeping his eyes fixed on
the ground as he sang and pointing 10 his
heart with an awkward gesture whenever
the word "heart" occurred in the ro-
nance Suddenly, one after another, half
dozen athletic, square shouldered men,
varying in age from II to 20, crept through
the narrow archway, passed rapidly in
without even glancing at our table and
massed themselves ut the end of the vault,
lolling on the benches, smoking cigarettes
and drinking at our expense, for we
thought il only polite to offer these gentle
men glass Of wine, the more so rs the
musicians were playing for our amuse-
ment.
After 'Aiignonn the rufIian with the
red fez asked for the guitar, took tuning
fork out of his pocket, snapped it with his
teeth. and tuned the instrument properly.
Then the rufIian in the cotton blouse rose
and with fine voice, perfect sentiment, and
correct gesture, sang other airs from
s'Mignon' and also from Carmen" All
the ruffians listened in perfect silence to
the singer, who was n real artist, and two
women who had joined the band melted
into tears ut the end, one Of them eNclaim-
ing: 'sAh. musici When hear 'Mignon'
1 can't help it. l cry like calf. The
scene appeared to be idyllfc rather than
brigandish and terrible. However, it ap-
peared after after all that we might have
been in better company, for at sign from
the waiter [ slipped out of the vault.
You had better give the word 10 your
friends TO come up stairs. The band Is
almost au complet, and 1t is the very band
that assassinated q man here last week.
If their chief happens to come in you
might get in trouble" We did not wait
TO be warned twice, but wished the gen
temen good evening, and assembled the
staircase without undue precipitation, and
yet with a kind of internal sensation or
rapidity Paris Cor New York Sun.